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England have been eased for the Ashes series following the news that Kevin Pietersen will miss the last three Tests – but punters will be relieved to hear Sky Bet are refunding bets on him to be his team’s top run scorer, top overall series runscorer and Man of the Series.

Pietersen has been ruled out of action for six weeks following an operation on his Achilles tendon injury.

After being assessed by a leading specialist on Wednesday it was decided that surgery was the best option.

Pietersen said: “As an England cricketer the Ashes are the pinnacle of the game so I’m absolutely devastated to be missing the rest of this series.”

As a result Sky Bet have eased England’s odds of regaining the Ashes to even money from 4/5 and have trimmed Australia to 5/2 from 3/1. The draw has been cut to 9/4 from 5/2.

England, who are 1-0 up after two Tests, have been eased by most other firms, but not markedly – Ladbrokes go 10/11 from 5/6, Coral are evens from 10/11 and Blue Square are 11/10 from 4/5 and reaction was still a little mixed.

Sky Bet’s cricket compiler Tom Warburton said: “Although Pietersen’s absence will be felt by England, there are no major reasons for Strauss’ camp to hit the panic button just yet.

“England can now be backed at evens from 4/5 for the series, which could be value considering runs are being scored throughout the team.”

Coral’s David Stevens said: “Ironically, Kevin Pietersen may not have contributed many runs to England’s victory at Lord’s but he is undoubtedly a world class batsman, and his absence from the rest of the series leaves a massive hole in England’s top order.”

That was echoed by Ladbrokes’ Nick Weinberg who said: “Despite struggling to recapture the form of 2005 Pietersen will still be a huge loss for England.

“He has the ability to win games on his own and his absence will lessen the chances of Andrew Strauss lifting the famous urn.”

But Blue Square’s Alan Alger pointed out: “Is it that much of a blow? KP has clearly not been right – James Anderson looked like a better batsman during his second innings at Lord’s.

“Add to that the fact Ian Bell is currently averaging nearly 80 in county cricket, and he’ll come in to the side on his home track at Edgbaston.

“Obviously we have to push England out following the news, but we’ll be careful not to over-react.”

Meanwhile Paddy Power have also confirmed they will be refunding all Ashes bets on Pietersen and have eased England’s odds from 10/11 to Evens.

Darren Haines, spokesman for Paddy Power, said: “KP has struggled to get going in this series and, through not fault of his own, has never been able to give punters a real run for their money. This seems the fairest thing to do.”

Pietersen’s absence has also paved the way for Andrew Strauss to be England’s top series runscorer with the captain’s odds revised to 8/11 ahead of Paul Collingwood following at 9/4.

Haines added: “Even a one-legged Kevin Pietersen is a huge loss to the England line-up. He was without doubt the batsman the Aussies feared most and this has got plenty of punters sniffing at the value of a comeback for Ricky Ponting’s boys.”

Antigua – Day Two
England 566-9 dec (A J Strauss 169, P D Collingwood 113, O A Shah 57, A N Cook 52, K P Pietersen 51) v West Indies 55-1

Paul Collingwood’s eighth Test century put England in total control against West Indies at the Antigua Recreation Ground.

Collingwood made 113 to allow the tourists to declare their first innings at 566-9 on the second evening of the hastily-scheduled third Test.

Steve Harmison then removed Chris Gayle to leave West Indies at 55-1 in reply and facing a long road to survival over the course of the final three days.
Pitch issues

The hosts’ task is unlikely to be aided by the pitch, which had been prepared in just 24 hours following the abandoned second Test at the nearby Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Friday.

Having held up well as Andrew Strauss plundered 169 and England reached 301-3 after being asked to bat on Sunday, the playing surface began to show signs of uneven bounce as the second day wore on.

Collingwood had arrived at the crease in the second over of day two when nightwatchman James Anderson (four) edged behind off Fidel Edwards (2-75).

The Durham batsman was fortunate to survive his first ball, gloving a short delivery from Edwards over the slips, but thereafter took charge despite the increasingly unreliable bounce of the wicket.

Collingwood dominated a stand of 94 either side of lunch with Kevin Pietersen, who never looked comfortable while crawling to a half-century off 131 balls.

West Indies briefly got themselves back in the contest when Jerome Taylor – battling injuries to his ankle and hip – produced a double wicket maiden in the eighth over of the middle session.

Pietersen was bowled via the inside edge for 51 and, two balls later, Andrew Flintoff had his middle stump uprooted by one that kept low.

But Collingwood marshalled the lower order in expert fashion, adding 62 in the company of both Matt Prior and Stuart Broad.

Prior reached 39 from 61 balls before holing out to mid-off shortly before tea to become left-arm medium pacer Brendan Nash’s maiden Test scalp.

But there was no respite for West Indies in the final session as Collingwood closed on three figures, eventually reaching the landmark – his third hundred in nine Test innings – off 183 balls including 13 fours.

From that point England chased quick runs to set up a declaration. Part-time left-arm spinner Ryan Hinds (2-86) had Broad caught behind attempting to cut for 44.

And when Collingwood holed out in the deep to same bowler to end a 202-ball stay, England captain Strauss declared to give his fast bowlers 15 overs to make inroads.

Gayle blows out

His opposite number Gayle decided to go on the attack against the new ball and had struck five fours and a six to reach 30 from 32 balls before Harmison intervened.

The left-hander top-edged the first ball of the over out of the ground and followed up with a baseball-style pull for four.

But Harmison (1-18) persevered and was rewarded when Gayle got carried away and carved an extravagant back-foot drive straight to Anderson in the covers.

Daren Powell (two not out) was sent out as nightwatchman to join Devon Smith and the pair safely negotiated the final four overs of the day.

West Indies will resume on Tuesday still along way from avoiding the follow-on as they look to preserve their 1-0 lead in the now five-match series.